This invention relates to a process for the preparation of pentafluoroethoxy benzoyl fluoride and to novel intermediates that may be employed in the process.
In recent years there have been developed a number of fluoroalkoxyphenyl-substituted compounds useful in the field of agriculture, for example as insecticides, herbicides, plant fungicides, and plant growth regulators. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,967,949, 4,002,628 and 4,043,791, which disclose a class of fluoroalkoxyphenyl-substituted nitrogen heterocyclic compounds useful as plant growth regulators. The class of compounds disclosed includes compounds having pentafluoroethoxyphenyl substituents. The compounds prepared in accordance with the present invention are particularly useful in the synthesis of such pentafluoroethoxyphenyl-substituted compounds. Thus, for example, the pentafluoroethoxy benzoyl halide compounds of the present invention may be reacted with a suitable Grignard reagent such as isopropyl magnesium chloride, to form isopropyl p-pentafluoroethoxyphenyl ketone. The latter is disclosed in the above-cited patents as a useful reactant for the further synthesis of various pentafluoroethoxyphenyl-substituted chemical products.